One of the wonderful things we noticed was that the last quarter of the main script, the did not had sewn match the earlier one. This confirms my suspicion the end have been written later. You cannot see that on the microfilm. It was a wonderful thing to see that in person. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Defense secretary Ashton Carter unveiled new plans to update the Defense Departments command structure. He discussed other changes at the pentagon that would try to limit redundancy and excessive documentation. For strategicr and International Studies, this is just under one hour. [applause] mr. Hamre good afternoon, everybody. We are delighted to have you here. It shouldnt be this cold in april. I can down from new york where it was snowing in wilmington, and i thought, what the hell . We are to warm up this afternoon and we are going to have an excellent opportunity to talk with secretary carter. Thank you all for coming. A brief security announcement he has a security detail. Theyre going to watch out for him. Im going to watch out for you. So if we have a problem, follow my instructions. Our exits are right here behind us. This is the door closest to the steps that go down closest to the street. If there is a problem in the front, we will go to the back to the National Geographic society. We have an arrangement with them if there is a problem in the back. We will go to the front to st. Matthews cathedral. Count heads and say grace. Anyway, we are going to be fine. I look forward please follow my instructions. Ashton carter is a man ive had the privilege of working with for almost 40 years. We first met when he was at the office of assessment years ago. I remember distinctly once when he interviewed me i should say for a job and decided i really was not up to what it took to be a success. I do not resent that. [laughter] since that time, we have had the privilege of working closely together for many years. Im very honored he is here. He is doing just a spectacular job. With your applause, would you please welcome ash carter and thank him for coming . [applause] secretary carter thanks very much, john, for that warm introduction, but more importantly, for many years of friendship, of guidance, and of Wonderful Service to our country over some many years, not to mention your leadership of this institution. It is a pleasure for me to be here at csis this afternoon. Since it was founded over 50 years ago, the center for strategic and International Studies has come to be considered one of the preeminent securityfocused think tanks here in the nations capital. You provide important ideas and scholarships on pressing issues, ranging from matters of Defense Strategy and budget, to americas strategic future in the asiapacific, to the growing threats that we face in the domain of cyberspace. To reviewing the Goldwater Nichols act that makes up so much of dods institutional organization. It is because of that last piece of scholarship that i wanted to come here today. As many of you know, i recently issued my Posture Statement for the Defense Department for fiscal year 2017. The first to describe how we are approaching five strategic challenges russia, china, north korea, iran, and terrorism. It is in this context that i want to speak to you today about some key longterm Strategic Management questions. The dod will be detailing and discussing with congressional defense committees in the very next coming weeks. As a learning organization, the u. S. Military and the Defense Department has a long history of striving to reform our command structures and improve our strategies and policies in how for formulated and integrated. Even when world war ii is being fought and before the Defense Department was established, military leaders and policymaking officials were discussing how military services could be unified and exploring ways to develop stronger policy processes and advice. The result was the National Security act of 1947. And its amendments which among , historic changes establish the position of the secretary of defense, the joint chiefs of staff, and the National Security council. Later reforms, particularly eisenhowerera changes help strengthen the office of the defense secretary and gave new authority to the joint chiefs. It was the Goldwater Nichols act, enacted 30 years ago this fall, that is most responsible for todays military and defense institutional organization. With memories of vietnam and the tragic desert one raid still fresh, officials from defense and policymakers again considered reform. After nearly four years of work, not to mention strong opinions by my former boss, then defense secretary caspar weinberger, the resulting transformation was what we now refer to as Goldwater Nichols. It solidified the chain of command from the president to the secretary of defense to the Combatant Commanders. It affirmed civilian control of the military by codifying and in law that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is outside of the chain of command. In order for him to be able to provide vital objective, independent advice to the defense secretary and the president. At the same time, it also strengthened the chairmans role, created the position of vice chairman of joint chiefs, and centralize the role of combatant commands. It required senior offices officers them to gain professional experience outside of their service in order to advance further in their careers. All Senior Officers know these policies today for they are integral to Career Advancement and achievement and they reflect the reality of Power Service members train and fight every day as a joint force. Right around this time, albeit unrelated to Goldwater Nichols itself, important changes were made to reform acquisition. These were based on the recommendations of the Packard Commission led by former , secretary of defense dave packard. Implementing the recommendations was another one of the first challenges i worked on early in my own career. As a whole, all these changes were overwhelmingly beneficial, a credit to the work of not only the members of congress to pass who passed the legislation but also their staff. John hamre being one among them, i should say. What they put into law has given us generations of soldiers who have grown accustomed to operating together as a joint force. Overcoming many frictions before and has enabled our administration to draw greater benefit from the advice of chairman from general colin powell and desert storm to general joe dunford today. This year, as Goldwater Nichols turns 30, we can see that the world has changed since then. Instead of the cold war and clear threat, we face an one environment that is for genetically different. Dramatically different. It is time to consider updates to this critical framework while still preserving its spirit and intent. For example, we can see in some areas how the pendulum between service equities and jointness may have swung too far, as in not involving the surface chiefs enough in acquisition the decisionmaking and accountability. Where subsequent world events suggest nudging the pendulum further, as in taking more steps to strengthen the capability of the chairman and joint chiefs to support force management, planning, and execution across the combatant commands. Particular in the face of threats that cut across regional and functional combatant command areas of responsibility. , as many increasingly do. With this in mind, i asked the dod managing officer peter levine and lt. General Tom Waldhauser to lead a confidence of departmentwide review of these kinds of organizational issues, spanning the office of secretary of defense, the joint staff, the Combatant Commanders, and the military departments. To identify any potential redundancies, inefficiencies or other areas of possible improvement. I like to discuss that reviews preliminary recommendations with you today. Over the coming weeks, we will execute some of these decisions under our own existing authority. For others where legislation is needed, we will work with the house and Senate Armed Services committees on implementation as they consider this Years NationalDefense Authorization act. Of course, both committees have their own important reviews underway as well, making this area ripe for working together, something im pleased to report we have been doing effectively and will continue to do on this topic. I applaud chairman mccain, senator reid, chairman thornberry, each of whom i was able to speak to earlier this morning, and also congressman smith. I look forward to continuing to work closely with all them in their committees. When it comes to these fundamental matters of our National Security, that is what we have to do. Work together. Let me begin with transregional and transfunctional integration and advice. An imperative considering the challenges we face are less likely than ever before to confine themselves to neat regional, or functional countries. Our campaign to deliver isil a lasting defeat is one example. As we take the fight to its apparent tumor in iraq and syria, and where it has been metastasizing, our combatant command, Central European command, Africa Command have had to coordinate efforts more than ever before. Increasingly i brought Cyber Command in these operations as well to leverage their unique capabilities in space and cyber to contribute to the defeat of isil. Beyond terrorism, we also face potential future nationstate adversaries with wiping Geographic Reach and also widening exposure, something we may want to take into account in order to deescalate a crisis and deter aggression. In other cases, we may have to respond to multiple threats across the globe in overlapping time frames. An increasingly complex command. We are not postured to be as agile as we should be. Accordingly we need to clarify , the role of the chairman and in some cases the joint chiefs of staff in three ways. One, to help synchronize resources globally for daily operations around the world, enhancing our flexibility and my ability to move forces rapidly across the themes between our combatant commands. Two, to provide objective military advice for ongoing military operations, not just for future planning. Three, to advise on military strategy and operational plans. For example, helping ensure our plans take into account and delivered fashion the possibility of overlapping contingencies. These changes recognize that in todays complex world we need someone in uniform who can look across the services and combatant commands and make objective recommendations to the departments civilian leadership about where to allocate forces around the world and where to apportion risk to achieve maximum benefit for our nation. And the person best posture to do that is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. We will pursue these changes in line with Goldwater Nicholss original intent, which is to enable the military to better operate in a seamless way while still preserving both civilian control and the chairmans independence to provide professional military advice outside of the chain of command. Some have recommended the opposite course to put the chairman into the chain of command. Both chairman dunford and i agreed that would be eroding the chairmans objectivity as the principal military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense. We appreciate csis reached the same conclusion. Secondary areas is in our combatant commands. Adapting combatant commands and continuing to aggressively streamline headquarters. Adapting to new functions will include changes and how we manage ourselves in cyberspace in accordance with the emphasis placed on cyber in my Posture Statement and that the president made in his fiscal year 2017 budget. There i made clear that in each of the five challenges facing dod we must deal with it across all domains, not just the traditional air, land, sea, and space, but also cyberspace. Where our reliance on technology has given us great strengths and great opportunities, but also some vulnerabilities that adversaries are eager to exploit. Ours why we increased total investment to 35 billion next years and why we should consider changes to cibers role in dods command plan. Some of you may know that dod is currently in the process of reducing our Management Headquarters by 25 in needed staff. We are on the road to composting accomplishing that goal next to the partnership of the congressional defense committees which once again we deeply appreciate. We can meet these targets without combining northern and Southern Command or inviting or combining european and african command. Actions that would run contrary to why we made them separate. Because of their distinct areas of emphasis and increasing demands on our forces in them. Indeed those demands have only , increased with each demand in recent years with each growing more visible. Instead of combining these commands to the detriment of our friends and our allies and our own commanding control capabilities, we intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics and intelligence and plans across the joint staff, combatant commands, eliminating redundancies while not losing capability and much can be done here. Additionally, in the coming weeks the Defense Department will look to semper fi simplify and improve command control where the number of fourstar positions have made headquarters either topheavy less efficient than they could be. The military is based on rank hiarchy. Juniors are subordinate and right to their seniors. This is true from the platoon to the core level. But it gets complicated and some of our combatant command partners where we have a deep bench of talented senior leaders. Where we see the potential to be more efficient and effective, billets filled by fourstar generals and admirals will be filled by threestars in the future. The next area want to discuss is acquisition. 30 years after the Packard Commissions recommendations led to the establishment of an undersecretary of defense for acquisition, Service Acquisition executives and the roles of Program Officers and managers is clear that we still can and must do more to deliver better military capability while making better use of the taxpayers dollars. Six years ago, when i was undersecretary of defense for Acquisition Technology and , logistics, dod began what i call better buying power, an initiative to continuously improve our acquisition system. And under the current secretary frank kendall, we are now in the third iteration. While were seeing compelling indications of positive improvements like reduced cost growth in cycle time but there , is still a constant need for improvement. Practically as technology, industry, and our own Missions Continue to change. One way we are improving is involving the Service Chiefs more in accountability, consistent with Legislation Congress passed last year. Including giving them a seat on the defense acquisition board and giving them Greater Authority and what is known as milestone b. Thats where engineering and Manufacturing Development begins. That is where programs are first defined and a commitment to fund them is made. As ive discussed with the Service Chiefs, with this greater responsibility comes greater accountability. The chiefs themselves and their military staffs will need to sharpen the skill set, which in places has atrophied over the years. To be successful in discharging their new acquisition responsibilties. I also expect them to leverage the many lessons they have learned over the last years as operators. Many of them in war where speed and agility are critical to help our acquisition professionals deliver even better capabilities to our war fighters. Another way we will seek to improve is by streamlining the acquisition system itself. This will include evaluating and where appropriate reducing different members of the acquisition board. It is currently composed of about 35 principles and advisors, each of whom is likely to feel empowered as a gatekeeper for acquisition. Reducing these layers will both free up staff time and focused decisionmaking energy on overcoming real obstacles for Program Success rather than bureaucratic hurdles. We also intend to reduce burdensome acquisition documentation. For one example, in cases where the defense Acquisition Executive serves as the Milestone Decision Authority and current process dictates that 14 separate documents he correlated within the department. Reducing these paper requirements in a meaningful way and pushing Approval Authority down when authority is on the right track will eliminate redundant reviews and shorten review timelines, ultimately getting capabilities fielded to our troops sooner, which are chiefs desire and deserve. The last major area where we need to update Goldwater Nichols is in making changes to joint Personnel Management as part of what i call the force of the future. An endeavor i began last year to ensure that our future volunteer force will be just as fine as the one i have the privilege of leading today. Even as generations change in and job markets change. We are taken several steps building onramps and off ramps so technical talent can more easily flow between dod and americas great innovative immunities. Opening all combat positions to women who meet service standards, to expand our access to 100 of americas population for our allvolunteer force. And doing more to support military families to improve retention. Like extending maternity and paternity leave and giving possibility of geographic flexibility in return for additional commitments. One of the hallmarks of Goldwater Nichols is that it made joint duty required for all officers who wanted to rise to the highest levels of our military. In so doing, it led to great advances in joining us across the military services such that almost all our people know why and how we operate as a joint team. It is also significantly strengthened the ability of our chairman, our joint chiefs, and are Combatant Commanders to a conflict there joint responsibilities. As we learned over the years to what it takes to operate jointly, we have learned the different assignments, which are more narrow and rigid than they need to be. Accordingly, we are proposing to broaden the definition of positions for which an officer can receive joint duty credit, going beyond planning and command and control to include joint experience and other operational functions, such as intelligence, fires, transportation, maneuver, protection, and sustainment, including joint acquisition. For example, while the staff officer in a combatant command would get joint duty credit, an officer in the combined air Operation Center cornet in the services of all different uniforms to courtney airstrikes against isil might not. In another case take two cyber , airmen working in a combatant command. One does cyber plans and gets joint credit. The other does cyber targeting and doesnt. While a logistics planner at a combatant plan does not receive joint credit, their operational plans counterpart does. So what we are proposing will fix these discrepancies to fulfill the true purpose of Goldwater Nichols which was to ensure meaningful joint experience. Additionally, we are also proposing to shorten the amount of time required to accumulate joint duty. From three years to two years. So top personnel have more flexibility to take on command assignments and other opportunities to broaden and deepen their careers. Now, going forward, it is important to make all these updates under the guiding principle of do no harm. Goldwater nichols took four years to write and it has been incredibly successful over three decades. To the credit of the reforms it put in place, which are not driven today by a signal failure, like desert 1. On the contrary, i am deeply proud of how our people have operated in iraq and afghanistan over the 15 years. So we come at this from a different direction. The updates we make now must not undo the many positive benefits that Goldwater Nichols has had not undo the many positive benefits that Goldwater Nichols has had for dod. Instead, they must build on them. Let me close today on why we are doing this, why it is important that we deal all the pressing charges and threats we have to deal with every day, and as we do that, we take the moment of addressing the topic of our own organizational structure. We do this because our Service Members deserve the best Defense Department and military we can give them. Because they are giving their best day in and day out all around the globe. It is our job here, on both sides of the river here in washington, both sides of the aisle, to come together, as Barry Goldwater and sam nunn did 30 years ago, to give our men and women in uniform what they need to succeed. From the right experience to the right capabilities to the right Leadership Structure for the right strategic thinking. As long as we do, im confident that they will continue to excel in defending our great country and making a Better Future for our children. Thank you. [applause] i dont want people to think we didnt pay our bill and that is why the lights went out. [laughter] i should say you were very gracious about my being on the Armed Services committee. But we have john watered over here. He is one of the architects. [applause] and i forgot one technical announcement. At the end of our presentation, i will ask you to stay here as we get the secretary out. He needs a clear run out to the car. A very substantive speech. So much we could draw on. We are collecting questions from colleagues. We dont need speeches. That tends to happen when we ask people to address from the floor. So we have collected questions. Just hold them up and we have people who will come and get them. Let me just start, secretary, because you talked about Cyber Command. This is a cop located thing. Probably any future war we fight will probably begin in the cyberspace, really. How do you see that we integrate the physical fight, that is led and planned and coordinated with a Cyber Command . Secretary carter that is the question and that is why we are looking at this. We have a Cyber Command today. I have given several command in the counter i sell fight their first counterisil fight their first command. That means bringing the fight to isil in syria and iraq. That means inability interrupting their ability to plot, including against us here and anywhere else against our friends and allies around the world. Interrupting their finances, their ability to pay people, their ability to dominate the population on whose territory they have tried to establish this nasty ideology. All of that, we can approach in part through cyber. What does that have to do with the fentcom, which is the geographic command . It is really not just cyber conquered now there is africom. Theres ucom, as you saw what happened in brussels. We are finding interregional integration, but interregional functional integration. The lines as clean as we can make them. You have to divide up the pie somehow. Once you do that, a have to make sure the slices are able to Work Together and you have not artificially made barriers. The reality is i go to joe dunford for that every day anyway. So as a practical matter, ive got to have that. And i depend upon his professional military advice and his being in constant contact. That is the role i want to make sure i clarify and strengthen. I dont think that was as a parent of people back in the day. But the world was apparent to people back in the day. But the world has changed. John let me ask you about the power geometry in the pentagon. Nobody questions the primacy of the secretary. But then theres the question of how important and how powerful is the chairman, how important and how powerful are the Service Chiefs, how important and powerful are the Combatant Commanders. What is your view about the right balance of this power challenge . Secretary carter i look to each of them. I dont personally or institutionally look to them they have a hosting responsibilities but i look to the whole crowd. Let me give you an example. This afternoon, i will be going with the whole gang, all the chiefs and secretaries and senior civilians are to meet with the president. We will spend the afternoon with him and have dinner with him. Tomorrow, we will walk together talking about everything, from budget and programs, through the wars, grand Contingency Planning and the whole deal. John, i will take you to the ones you named. The Service Chiefs i look at the be multidimensional. And they are. Here are fantastic people. I have had a whole bunch of compliments, by the way. Because ive had to name almost all the chiefs. But let me to you. If i had given you my second choices, you would say the same thing to me. These are incredibly gifted people. They didnt get there for no reason. The chiefs operate as a joint chiefs hoping the secretary of. I look to them in their individual services. I look at them to take care of our people because that, more important than anything else, makes our military the greatest. They increasingly, i need to hear from them about what they need. So they play a role that was not as apparent early on, in what we buy and organize and train and equip. I ask the senior poeple to without exception, do it all. I look around the room and there are 20 to 25 people. I always say, look around the room, gang. Its just us. And when you look at it that way, it doesnt seem like a very large group of people and you are to have all the help it can get. John secretary, you talked about this complex in the world. We get a radical jihadist element that is waging a more conventional fight in syria and iraq, a more insurgency set of activities in northern africa, is attacking our allies in paris and brussels. It suggests that youre going to have put a greater emphasis on the chairman. Could you amplify . Secretary carter sure, for example, we try to move things from one theater to another. That has tremendous consequence. Each individual has the tendency to say i needed all. They want to do everything they can to accomplish the omission. The mission. But we dont have an infinite amount of stuff and so there needs to be a global integrator. It is made clear that the chairman is the principal military advisor to me and the president. I respect that and very much want that. But it doesnt mean he is also the one who is supposed to be every day and periodically as we move forces around giving me that advice on where things ought to be and how they are to be used. That is selfevidently required in the world and wasnt part of the initial conception. There will be others who will come along later and its important to clrify clarify that that is necessary in todays world. John a couple of questions here about the battle against isil. There have been some encouraging press reports about the momentum in the field against isil. Yet also there is a metastasizing threat. Will you share with us how you are currently looking at this . Secretary carter weve got to get these guys beaten a soon as possible. We are looking for every opportunity we can take to do that. Of course, our overall strategic approach is not only to defeat isil, but to keep them defeated. That means you also have to look ahead to the next stage and who is my to keep the peace afterwards, which is why we try to work with local forces, where they can be made capable and motivated, which is difficult in some places. But we are doing more everyday and looking for opportunities to do more. The sooner the better. That has us looking at every conceivable way that we can do that. Thats why i mention cyber, for level. Even a very few ciber, for example. Even a few years ago, that was not in the game. Here we have this opportunity. These guys are really using this tool and we have to take it away from them. That, in addition to everything we do in the air and on the ground and so forth. Yes, we are accelerating it. We are gathering momentum. But i want to see it over with in syria and iraq and everywhere around the world. John im not going to drag you into american politics, but it has been startling to hear candidates talk about how nato is no longer relevant. I know you may yesterday with the secretary general. How important is nato now for our future . You described a very challenging world. Where does nato fit in all of that . Secretary carter let me just Say Something i have said in other occasions. I really mean this, both on my on behalf and on behalf of everybody else in my department. I know this is an Election Year and we have a tradition in this country. We in the Defense Department stand apart from that. So im going to be very careful of ever addressing anything as part of a political debates. So i just need to preface anything i say on that basis. I did meet with secretarygeneral start and buried yesterday. We were talking about the things nato is doing and can do going forward. Nato waged and was successful in ending the cold war in a peaceful and principled way. Then the balkans came and nato ended up being instrumental in that. Today, were looking to it for two particular things. One, is to stand tall against the possibility of russia and aggression in Europe Russian aggression in europe. I regret it, but it is what it is. And also the possibility of socalled hybrid warfare. Then secondly, hoping us in the counter i sulfite in the counterisil fight. What difference does it make as having nato as nato in the fight . The reason is where he can add value. For a lot of the smaller countries, its hard for them to do anything on their own and to join something ad hoc. But if they get into a nato structure, it is easier for them to make a contribution. And we are looking for any kind any conservations we can get. Nato is a mechanism for doing that. That is what we were talking about yesterday. It turns out, even after its Founding Mission was so to speak accomplished, there have proven to be lots of ways where we end europe have found it not only possible but necessary to come together. You cant take for granted that you know, one of the reasons i think we do so well as a military im discord to brag on the institution a little bit is, first and foremost, its people. It lives in the worlds most preeminent society. And thats good. But the other thing is what we stand for. I dont just say that my evidence of that is that we have a lot of friends and allies. Why is that . Its because they like what we stand for. They like our people. They love working with american servicemembers. They think they conduct themselves well. They are not only competent, but they conduct themselves and i think its a great credit to these young men and women how much liked they are to work with. You can look around the world and say where is it that we deeply share values to which we are really committed and europe is a place like that. So something that brings us together, protecting something we share, is pretty important. So for all those reasons, we had a lot to talk about yesterday. John you are testifying these days on your budget. You have a bit of a reprieve this year because you have a twoyear agreement. But there are budget caps that are in law. Your successor is going to have to wrestle with a very difficult problem. We dont have enough money to do the things we have to do. What do you say to the American People . Secretary carter that we need to come together as we did in the twoyear wave behind the bipartisan budget agreement. Its the only way. I cant do much about that as secretary of defense. But as a citizen and you have your eyes open, you know that well, as secretary of defense, but i do know is our guest strategic defense is the collapse of bipartisan budget agreements going forward, the restoration of the sequester caps. We know we are in real trouble if that happens. I have been consistent in my testimony that we have got to avoid that. We got a reprieve. Im extremely grateful that we got people to come together. We need to keep doing that. We all know, john, we can do the math. You cant balance the books on the backs of discretionary spending. So you got to get in the other parts of the budget. Thats much bigger than somebody who has an executive branch responsibility, even a vital line vital one like mine, can influence. If we get back to sequester, we are in trouble. So for me and the rest of the department, our biggest Strategic Risk likes in the restoration of sequestrer cap. John im disappointed this president ial debate is not more on defense. Lots of questioning about people in the region where is america . Is the pivot real . Secretary carter we have a new phase of the rebalance. We are doubling down on the investments for the simple reason that its the single region of the consequence. Its important that there be a system of peace and stability. America and American Military power has been a critical ingredient of that for 70 years. We want to keep that going. Its going to have to be different because the dynamics is different. First japan rose. There was a japanese miracle and then a Southeast Asia miracle. Today, an indian and a chinese miracles, all which is great. But you cant take for granted that the environment in which everyone was able to rise and fulfill themselves in their own way that has been good for everybody. But this is a region that has no nato, where the wounds of world war ii have not healed. There are a number of coutnries that have claims in the south china sea. For underway, china has been the most aggressive in that regard. Our president and president xi were talking about this just a few days ago and we will see if china keeps the word it made the last time it was here. We are reacting as the rebalance unilaterally. But most importantly, countries in the region are reacting. That is why we are being asked so much more to do so much more. Youre right, i will be travelling int he region. I will be working with countries that want to do more with the united states, particularly in the area of maritime security. It want to do that because they want to keep a good thing going out there. Were committed to that. John you mentioned in your. India you mentioned india. India is an awkward partner threat the years. Secretary carter i do spend a lot of time. The word i use is destiny. Here are two great nations that share a lot. A democratic form of government. A commitment to individual freedom. And so forth. So i talked about values earlier on. India is a place that is many cultures, but, like us, it is a multicultural melting pot determined to Work Together. So we have a lot in comon in spirit. We also have a lot of common interests geopolitically geostrategically. One is to keep a good thing going. Proud. Are also they want to do things their own way. They dont want to do things with just us. We dont want to be exclusive. We want a closer relationship and a stronger relationship as we can because it is geopolitically grounded. The specific things we are doing with them is twofold. One, we have to rebalance westward. They have act east. These are like two hands grasping one another and thats a good thing. Second, we have a Defense Technology and trade initiative. They want to improve their technical capabilities of their own Defense Industry and capabilities. But they dont just want to be a buyer. They want to be codevelopers and coproducers. They want to be that kind of relationship. Thats what we are woking working with them on. And that is what works with Prime Minister modis initiative. We are very much in line with what the government there is try to do strategically and economically and what we want to do with them defense wise. When i go over there, there will be a whole bunch of things that we will be announcing. John let me just shift to say a lot of concern about our dependence on space and the increasing vulnerability of space assets. How are you thinking about this . Secretary carter it is a vulnerability and you have to think through vulnerabilities. And when you have them in your military system, a subtly is a fixed start. In orbital mechanics terms, it is a fixed start. There is no train item. We cant dig a hole. There you are. So it is an inherently vulnerable situation. That said, there are things you can do electronically and in terms of or bootable of orbital maneuvers to make it difficult for anybody to interfere with your function and we are doing that. But at the same time, you ahvave you have to ask yourself what you going to do if it is disrupted, if it is destroyed, to make sure we can accomplish Something Like the thing functioned in some other way . So were looking both at defense and operate through. I asked we set up a couple of years ago an Operation Center. Ill be there in a couple of week, colorado springs. Learn job is how protected are you as possible and what do you do if, despite everything, the enemy has some success against the constellation, what do you do next to make sure we have a answer to that. John i have had the privilege of watching this powerful intellect for 35 years. Will you all please join me with your thanks. [applause] we will hear more about the Defense Department and staff tomorrow with brad carson. He was acting defense undersecretary for personnel and dropped out of that position after waiting for Senate Confirmation for the last year. We have been live here on cspan. The house and senate come back to session this week. Resuming debate on a bill to extend funding for the faa. At 5 00 senators consider the nomination of waverley crenshaw jr. To be u. S. District judge for tennessee. The house is back from a threeweek break. They meet monday for a short session. On tuesday they take up a bill to make the zika virus vaccine eligible for fda priority reviews. They also work on legislation that requires the Homeland Security department to prepare a southwest border threat analysis. Follow the house live here on cspan and the senate by bond on cspan two. Monday on the communicators. Tom wheeler in his first interview with cspan since being nominated by president obama in 2013. He talks about issues facing the fcc including net neutrality. And the spectrum incentive auction is just beginning. He discusses how he views the future of telecom and the internet. A technologyy reporter for the washington post. Enough to beunate able to do in the cable industry to bereless industry involved as they were bringing great change to the American Economy and the way people lived their lives. Thats what were dealing with at the fcc. We are now in the middle of one of the great revolution of all time and the job the fcc is to say, how do we